Tuesday, March 18, 2008

I read a number of different blogs. I don’t always agree with what people write, but I usually respect the point of view. Until now, I have never been really angry after reading a WoW related post. After all, it’s a game that we already take more seriously than we should.

But this blog entry really pissed me off. The short version is that the author is disgusted by the people who get all worked up in battleground chat when things go badly or people do stupid things. The thrust of his point is that these people are just wannabe PvPers and that the real PvPers do Arenas so they should just quit whining. Oh, and the strategy the wannabe wanted to follow has a 50-50 chance of working anyway. This post was a follow-up to a prior post where he admittedly AFKs in order to get the gear rewards and another post he made around the same time in which he ridicules people attempting to organize a strategy prior to the match starting.

I think what strikes a chord for me is the utter lack of consideration for anyone who wants to play a battleground because they enjoy playing battlegrounds. As I said in my reply, “you are doing something you DONT enjoy and because you dont enjoy it, feel that you have the right to ruin the gaming experience of others who DO enjoy it. If you did that in a Raid, you'd be gone in 5 seconds. Do it in a BG, and I'm stuck with you until the match is over.”

The crux of the issue about why people AFK in my mind is something I posted about previously in my blog article, ”From Newb to Pwnage”. The thesis point of that article is that, in WoW, gear is greater than skill in every possible way. A player doesn’t need to get better at playing the game to be better, they just need to get better gear. The net result is that people don’t do things because they want to do them or find them fun, they do them because they HAVE to do them in order to stay competitive. It’s an ugly affair and almost every “unfun” part of the game is related to this problem.

Here is a very interesting take on AFKing that is quite telling. To quote this blog entry:

You see AFKing doesn't stem from something as simple as wanting honor - it comes from wanting honor without working hard for it. Your average AFKer (like me) does other things to maximize their time while AFKing. Read a book, make a blog entry, do classwork, wash dishes, pretty much anything. In fact, It isn't so much PvPing then doing something else, its more like "Meh, I gotta do these dishes - let me AFK and at least get some honor while I'm doing it."

Now if we just do a simple find replace on the words AFK and honor, here is what we get:

You see Botting doesn't stem from something as simple as wanting gold - it comes from wanting gold without working hard for it. Your average Botter (like me) does other things to maximize their time while Botting. Read a book, make a blog entry, do classwork, wash dishes, pretty much anything. In fact, It isn't so much PvPing then doing something else, its more like "Meh, I gotta do these dishes - let me Bott and at least get some gold while I'm doing it."

There is ZERO difference between a botter and an AFKer. The underlying motivation is the same. If you AFK and hate botters, than you are a hypocrite.

Still – I can almost understand AFKing. But the thing that really irked me is the ridicule and disgust for the people who are actually trying to win the battleground. It’s the same “Why bother? We are just going to lose” or “We tried that and lost last time” comments I hear way too often in battlegrounds. This attitude acts as a self fulfilling prophecy of ineptitude and leads to a herd mentality of people just running around contributing nothing to the match. I’m sorry, but if you don’t give a shit and are just in there grinding out the honor than shut your mouth and listen to someone who does give a shit.

4 comments:

Firstly, I like your blog and aside from our disagreement on the nature of BGs, I agree with most of what you have to say here.

Now, as to this post - most of it is correct. I admit that I afk, I do get angered at players who get too serious about BGs, and I do believe that the real PvPers are in arena matches.

However you misinterpreted the post that you link where I "ridicule people attempting to organize a strategy". It is a comment on how that there is NEVER any set strategy that the alliance has, so we all just do our own thing.

And while it was clever to replace words in my post, when you do that, you change the essence of the post because AFKing ISN'T botting, and honor ISN'T gold.

The point of the word replacement is that Botters and AFKers use the exact same justification for their behavior. Clearly, they are not the same and Blizzard actively bans botters while only frowns on AFKers. However, they both behave in a way that is consistent with each other in that they both want to receive the benefit of something without doing any of the work for it themselves. Your blog entry illustrates this point better than I could ever otherwise describe it.

It may be that I misinterpreted your post as ridicule instead of an honest gripe about BG communication. I’ve played Alliance and can tell you first hand that the Alliance are worse at communicating than the Horde. And I can certainly understand the frustration that comes out of the arguing that occurs in battlegrounds chat. The irony is that if everyone just picked a strategy (even a bad strategy) then the chances of overall success goes up by several factors. Quite honestly, I have learned to live with people who AFK and the people who follow around the herd. As you point out, both sides have them.

But what really drives me nuts is when someone steps up to take a leadership role and then the naysayers come out and boo him down. The naysayers do more damage to your team’s success than the AFKers or herd followers ever will. A leader might be able to coax the herd where it needs to go to win. But if the naysayers boo him, then he has zero chance of coaxing them anywhere. More than anything, your posts struck me as a not only an AFKer, but as one of these naysayers. And to make it worse, as a naysayer who admittedly didn’t give a shit and was disgusted by the elitists who might be trying to take a leadership role. Now if your gripe is actually against the naysayers, then I’m with you 100% -- but that’s not how the blog reads.

Well, as far as leadership in a BG goes, if someone comes up with a plan and I dont have anything better to offer, I shut the fuck up. I know all too well how hard it is to try to get 40 individuals to work as a team, and i refuse to become one of those typical "LOL UR PLAN SUX" players - especially since I understand the value of everyone sticking to one plan, no matter how flawed some parts may be.

My gripe with that is that we never seem to stick to ANY plan - People are too concerned about 'pwning' and topping charts rather than working together towards an objective.

And when i say elitists, I am not referring to those that want to win and try to work with their team. I say "Hurray" for people who try to work with others to win. I love to be a part of those victories (and if we lose, I don't feel like rerolling horde).

Who I am referring to are those that feel that they are somehow better than every other player in there and that those 39 other players should be subservient to them. I'm talking about the person who yells at the healers for not focusing heals on him, I'm talking about the person who tries to take the relief hut solo and yells at everyone for not keeping up. Im talking about the person on offense who yells at the defense for "not doing their job", despite the fact that the defense usually faces overwhelming odds.